Page 41 of Bella Darcy is on the Run

"My dear, I shall not press you tonight, but I assure you I shall want to hear that tale in full very soon." Elizabeth hesitated before continuing. "There is one thing I must ask you, Bella. When we found you and Captain Harwood together, had he taken any liberties with you? Is there anything you would like to tell me?"

"No, Mama." Bella sat up so quickly and threw the counterpane from her legs. She made as if to climb from the bed.

Elizabeth caught her gently by the shoulders and settled her back against the pillows as she had done countless times when Bella was a little girl. "Please do not distress yourself, darling. I had to ask."

"He has never behaved dishonourably towards me." Bella looked down at her hands for a few seconds before raising her eyes to Elizabeth's. "I think I love him, Mama. He is such a kind man and so strong, and he has made his own way in the world. He joined the Navy when he was just fifteen."

Elizabeth examined the information quietly. They knew little to nothing about this man and he could not have known Bella for more than a week. "It is an unusual beginning to a courtship, certainly, and I imagine feelings might become heightened when two people are thrown together in circumstances such as yours. I only ask that you do not make any hasty decisions tonight. You are exhausted and have endured something frightening. Give yourself a little time."

"My feelings will not change, Mama. I love him." Bella's expression wavered. "And I think he was about to ask me something before Papa arrived."

Elizabeth said nothing. Her daughter’s eyes were filled with hope. But what type of man took such liberties before so much as a courtship? It could, of course, be that peculiar circumstances had only hastened what would have occurred naturally. She would try to reserve judgement for the time being.

Bella sank more deeply into the pillows. "I am very tired. Would you mind if we continued this discussion tomorrow? I feel as though I have not slept properly for days. I suppose I have not slept properly for days." She glanced towards the door as footsteps approached. "And here is my tray. I shall eat a little and then go immediately to sleep."

"Very well, dearest." Elizabeth bent and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Rest now. Everything else can wait until tomorrow."

She left the room in search of her husband. She doubted William would view the matter of Captain Harwood with quite as much compassion as she did.

Chapter Twenty

George approached the neat frontage of Lydia Bennet's home with more trepidation than he had felt in the midst of some sea battles. He was freshly shaved, a considerably more painful process than usual due to his current bruising, and wore his finest blue coat and a clean white shirt, his previous one having been consigned to the fire the night before. He had agonised over his cravat for far too long that morning, though how a well-tied knot was meant to influence Mr Darcy's judgement of him, he did not know. He stood for a moment before the house and looked up, noticing a figure at one of the upper windows.

There was no mistaking the large dark eyes looking down upon him. Bella's hair was loose around her shoulders but now appeared neat and clean, falling in glossy ringlets around her face, and his heart leapt painfully at the sight of her. The day before, he had almost asked her to marry him. It was a situation he would not have been able to countenance a few days earlier, but at some point in that horrible dark little room his heart had become hers. He had looked at her, so beautiful, so full of life despite her dirt-stained gown and wild hair, and the organ that he had always taken such care to guard had slipped away from him.

He had never believed in great romantic love. He had always thought that love, like all life's major decisions, should be a calculated choice, one that brought satisfaction to both parties and was founded on practical ideals. He had not expected it to bloom so joyfully or so fast. But little of that mattered if he could not gain her father's approval.

George lifted a hand in greeting and Bella smiled down at him before he walked to the door and raised the knocker. A maid answered and dropped into a neat curtsey before showing him into the entrance hall. She directed him to a small chair painted with tiny daffodils across almost every available surface. It was not quite a child's chair, but neither was it well suited to supporting a full-grown man, and George sat awkwardly upon it, fiddling with his cravat for more than ten minutes before Mr Darcy finally appeared.

"Captain Harwood. Please follow me."

He offered no greeting and no conversation, but simply turned on his heel. George followed him through the house to a small room that he suspected the older man was using as a temporary study. A quantity of feminine clutter had been pushed to one side and replaced by neatly stacked documents, ink and pens.

"Sit," Mr Darcy said, and it felt more like a command than an invitation.

"Thank you, sir." George lowered himself into the chair opposite Bella's father and tried to appear composed.

"I have spoken to my wife regarding your actions towards my daughter," Mr Darcy began. He spoke each word carefully, as though measuring the value of it before allowing it to leave his mouth, and his eyes never left George. His eyes were dark like Bella’s, but where hers were warm and liquid, his were cold and assessing. Frankly terrifying. George would not put it past the man to throttle him still.

"I understand that you played a crucial role in helping my daughter escape the clutches of that fiend, Mr Trevethan, and I am further given to understand that the information you supplied to the Customs Office last night has enabled Collector Brown and his men to make several raids and arrests this morning." Mr Darcy paused. "You are to be commended, sir. You have the gratitude not only of myself but of my entire family, and I would like to reward you for those actions."

He pushed a piece of paper smoothly across the desk. George picked it up and examined it. It was a banker's draft for five thousand pounds. He opened and closed his mouth several times before managing to speak. "I cannot accept this, sir. My actions were not undertaken for any pecuniary gain. I would have done anything to secure the safety of Bella, I mean Miss Darcy, and I cannot countenance accepting any sort of reward for doing so."

He noticed a tick in Mr Darcy’s cheek at his use of his daughter’s given name. "That is very noble of you," he said, although George thought he heard the faintest edge in his voice. The older man sat back in his chair. "Which brings us to the other matter."

George clenched and unclenched his fists beneath the desk.

"You importuned my daughter, sir, in broad daylight and in a most ungentlemanly fashion. She is but twenty years old and has seen very little of the world. I appreciate that the circumstances in which you found yourselves thrown together were highly unusual, and it is for that reason, and that reason alone, that I will not call you out. But I would ask that you do not contact her again. You are not to attempt to form any further connection with her."

George felt all the warmth leave his body.

"I will not have her forced into an arrangement because of actions taken under heightened emotion and extraordinary circumstances," Mr Darcy continued. "I love my daughter and my family more dearly than anything in this world, and I will do whatever it takes to protect them."

He placed a particular emphasis on whatever it takes, and George swallowed. "Sir, I respect the care and devotion you have towards your family. It is most admirable, and I have seen the effect of that care in your daughter. She is clever, kind and resourceful as well as very, very direct." He chuckled softly at this last attribute, though by the look on Mr Darcy’s face the comment was not received with the good humour it was given.

"You have had a very short acquaintance with my daughter, sir. I would advise you not to counsel me on her better qualities."

"Of course." George knew immediately that he had employed the wrong strategy, but there seemed little point in retreating now. "Nevertheless, I would like your permission to court your daughter, sir, with a view to a respectable marriage. She is more dear to me than I can say, and I do not wish to be parted from her."